MPhil in Global Risk and Resilience

The programme provides students with a toolkit of concepts, methods, and approaches to understand and mitigate global risk. The programme will: Provide a rigorous understanding of the emerging transdisciplinary field of Existential Risk Studies Train students in critically engaging with a wide range of interdisciplinary research on risk drivers, multipliers, and mitigation challenges, including the core skills required to interpret and apply scientific research into unprecedented and extreme future risk. Provide the opportunity to put these to work in both a focused individual study of specific global challenges and a group futures thinking systematic exercise. Give students an understanding of the variety of mitigation opportunities and challenges, focusing on the reality of policymaking in relevant areas (which may include but are not limited to AI, biosecurity, climate change, and nuclear policy) and the different impact strategies or theories of change that can influence these. Familiarize students with, and cultivate an appreciation for, standards of rigorous and responsible research in this area, highlighting both the need for high quality research and the pitfalls of irresponsible practices. Enable students to recognize opportunities for applying insights from this research to related disciplines (which may include but are not limited to Science and Technology Studies, Disaster Studies, Philosophy, Economics, International Relations, and Computer Science) and to various risk or technology focused careers across sectors such as government, industry, academia, and civil society.

Applicants for this course should have achieved a Good II.i Honours Degree.